Friday, July 27, 2007

There has been too much white in my life recently. White knitting, stitching on white, white wrapping paper used by the movers - just way too much.

I decided to change colors - at least the ones I can control so I bought some beautiful Jagger Spun Zephyr, 50% merino, 50% Tussah silk and started knitting...The background is the July/August issue of Piecework. The pattern is Russian Lace Scarf.

Here is a closeup of my knitting:The left side may look loopy and it is as each row starting on that side has a yo before the first stitches. They will be picked up later and become the base of the scarf's main pattern. If this is confusing, it will make more sense in the next entry. Four more pattern repeats (IF I counted correctly) and then the pick-up of stitches begins.

Off I go to finish lunch and knit a bit before taking on more unpacking and moving things around.

Friday, July 20, 2007

I'm here and still unpacking - but my DS and his family bought a new home. So I have custody of their two children. Yesterday was spent here - the oldest can play video games endlessly. Younger one too but not continuously - wants encouragement in what is going on. Today I had the brilliant idea to wear them down a bit so we wouldn't be up until midnight tonight. Good idea but bad reality. We went to the Children's Discovery Museum - which they really loved. Hint: baths and shampoos after if children dig for dinosaur bones with others. The chances of sand all over them is 100%. The sand they have is the finest, softest I've ever felt so it goes places sand has no business being. Then to TGI Fridays for lunch. After that we went to the TN Aquarium as these kids hadn't seen the penguin exhibit yet. So off we went and had a good time seeing all of it. Younger child had a butterfly on the hand for a bit and loved it. One got on me and every time I moved it to a shrub, it came back. Finally moved it onto a gentleman's hand and it stayed there. We also got to see a newly emerged butterfly just starting to fill its wings. That was a hit as well.

Penguins are a joy and the display is set up so that you can see the above-water activities as well as the underwater ones too. The penguins seem to like coming up to the glass and observe us watching them. Then on to the invertebrates - my favorites - and the big tank with all its levels. The sharks were staying near the windows as well as the sea turtle. The big rays were in hiding today.

Anyway I'm wiped out and the kids both are wide awake and full of energy.

Now for my rant: Why do some 'disabled' people feel that everyone, including a six-year old, has to be run over or shoved aside? I tried my darndest to make sure that wheelchair (for a 30-something amputee) had room to move around and have access to all the exhibits. The one time the six-year old tried to move up, his chair spun a bit to push her away. He looked straight at me when he did it too.

Of course older (late teens) kids and 'adults' are guilty of this too. It can sour me on the human race quickly and I need to return home to restore my equilibrium.

My nature is to help out when I can. Most of the time it takes little effort on my part to allow others space to move or operate their canes, chairs, medical equipment, etc. I have family members with disabilities - a blind nephew, a deaf DH and DSIL. I have two grandkiddles with autism and one with attention deficit. My DS is ADHD - and we believe his father is too. I have some loss of vision due to glaucoma. None of us have ever asked for extra special treatment - just the normal things that may allow them to function in this life.

To those who object to my saying blind nephew - I asked him what term is politically correct and he said he's blind - so that's what I say. The biggest pet peeve that he, my DH and DSIL have is that those who see that one is blind speak more slowly and louder. He's blind, not deaf. The ones who have electronic assistance in hearing - well people talk louder and enunciate too much. If someone reads lips, this does not help much.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

My daughter's birthday is today - so I'm wishing her a happy one. I tried to call last night but had to leave a message. When I called today all her in-laws were there getting her cake ready so I'll try again tomorrow.

Meanwhile I am in the condo now and dealing with unpacking and sorting and unpacking and waiting for a repair to be made. My inspector had found that water was running under the vinyl corner piece of the unit and some structural damage has happened as a result. Now I can see daylight out the corner of the living room - where the baseboard has separated in the corner. It took 3 days for the property manager to get someone over here - and they tell me it is an urgent repair - but nothing yet. Granted we've had rain showers almost daily - and it's booming now but there is still work they can do. I've had a huge Wood Roach come in the corner hole and he moves faster than I do when I try to smack him.

There is a weight limit on pets - and this one may exceed the limit - and I DO NOT consider him a pet.

I've also realized that in my very tiny kitchen, I'll have to do something with all my herbs and spices. I do believe I'll borrow Alton Brown's idea of the metal cans with the magnets. For starters they can go on the frig, but after painting, I may install some strips on the wall to hold the cans. I can get some labels to fit the printer and make up labels for all of them. There are a bunch as I love using all of them. I can figure out a way to make the strips look good I think.

In fact, tonight I finished making gazpacho (from Victory Garden Cookbook by Marion Morash) with my variations based on what I'd unpacked. I'd read or seen something where someone made some style of gazpacho and added horseradish and shrimp for a fancy shrimp cocktail. Well, I did that - putting it in a margarita glass - for dinner and it was terrific! It looked pretty too.

That's my healthy eating for the day.

Nothing going on with the knitting, spinning or stitching right now as I won't do much of that until more is unpacked and set up in my "crafts" room - including a chair or two.